Friday, March 1, 2013

Visitors: March 1-3, 2013

Joshua Alabi - DT - Detroit (MI) Cass Tech: Alabi is a 6'5", 245 lb. prospect for the class of 2015 with offers from Michigan and Michigan State. He and classmate Mikey Weber received Michigan offers in recent weeks.

Jayru Campbell - QB - Detroit (MI) Cass Tech: Campbell is a 6'3", 190 lb. prospect who recently added a Michigan State offer to his offers from Alabama, Eastern Michigan, and Notre Dame. He has led Cass Tech to two straight state championships and still has two years left to go in high school. I have heard that Michigan wants to see him improve some of his skills before offering, and at this time, it's unclear whether he'll receive one from the Wolverines. Brady Hoke offered just three quarterbacks in the class of 2013 and just one (so far) in the class of 2014, so the coaching staff is very careful about whom they offer.Rob Dowdy - OT - Westerville (OH) South: Dowdy is a 6'6", 260 lb. offensive tackle from the class of 2015. He actually visited on Wednesday, but I'm tossing him in this group anyway. He has not been offered by Michigan yet, but he does hold an offer from Indiana. You may remember that Michigan made a run at his teammate Marcus Ball, a safety/linebacker from the class of 2013 who was committed to Wisconsin before flipping to Arizona State.Drake Harris - WR - Grand Rapids (MI) Christian: Harris is a 6'4", 180 lb. wideout who recently added Georgia and Penn State to his offers from Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, etc. As a junior in 2012, he had 91 receptions for 2,015 yards and 25 touchdowns. He will likely be one of the top ten wide receivers in the 2014 class, and that's probably a conservative statement. This is the second time in three weeks that Harris will visit Michigan, despite the fact that he's a soft commit to Michigan State.Mikey Weber - RB - Detroit (MI) Cass Tech: Weber is a 5'10", 190 lb. prospect with offers from Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, and Syracuse. He had 1,700 yards and 21 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2012. He attends the pipeline of Cass Tech, which has also sent guys like William Campbell, Thomas Gordon, Terry Richardson, Jourdan Lewis, and Delano Hill.

Chase Winovich - LB - Clairton (PA) Thomas Jefferson: Winovich is a 6'4", 215 lb. outside linebacker with offers from Florida State, Northwestern, Pitt, and West Virginia, among others. Michigan has not offered him, but they're talking to him about the SAM linebacker position.

I haven't found/seen a good, recent tape on Campbell. What specifically does he have to improve on? How talented is he? If he's getting looks from ND, Alabama already, how interested would he be in Michigan if he "improves"? I mean he could easily say "ND/Bama/MSU were interested early on..."

That said, the staff knows what they're looking for and if they don't see it (yet) i can't blame them for not offering. At least it shows they're honest and up front.

I haven't really seen sophomore tape on Campbell, so I'm not really sure what he needs to improve. He's pretty robotic in the pocket from what I saw in just a few clips, but it's not enough to go on. I would say he's pretty talented based on his offers, but I want to wait until more video comes out.

He looks to be just as fast, at least when it comes to running down white, Western PA running backs, just about as quick and a lot more decisive, with a real nice aptitude for bringing it downhill to the football. Although in Berger's defense, on his film it looked to me like he had a lot more responsibility for containment as he was always lined up outside which I think is somewhat responsible for the false stepping thing.

Niether of them remind me much of Ryan on film who was and remains uncanny at just flat out getting there for a hit in the middle of your backfield.

Winovich is a good player, but he lacks a little something in speed. The hustle to chase down that RB in his highlights is impressive, but that wasn't exactly a speedster he was chasing down. I think Berger is a superior prospect. And I think you're right that Berger has more contain responsibilities; he's an OLB for his team, whereas Winovich plays inside.

It'll be interesting to see senior film on Berger as I can't imagine they won't move him inside and run the same schemes to get him into the backfield that they ran for Ryan and the Buckeye kid whose name escapes me and I don't care enough to go looking for.